I have what I consider a good wine cellar that holds about twelve hundred bottles of wine.  I was getting some props to take a picture to post on Facebook to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  As I have stated in the past I am a bit of a pack rat, which for this blog is a good thing, because I can furnish scans of items that I have kept from wineries, restaurants and the like, which helps me remember stories to write about.

I had four presentation boxes that had housed vintage French Champagnes, and I thought that would be a great picture as a way to toast my “friends” on Facebook.  As I started to gather the presentation boxes, I discovered one of the boxes was still sealed and it still contained a bottle of Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon 1983.  My heart sunk upon making this discovery.  I was sure that this bottle was over the hill, almost thirty years old for a white wine, it was a crap shoot as they say in the betting parlance.

I took the bottle out of the box after the photo shoot and iced it along with some other bottles of Champagne for the New Years Eve dinner and party we were having that evening.  I thought per chance there would be a still a drinkable still wine left in the bottle.  After all it had been stored properly all of these years.

When the time came to open the Champagnes that we were pouring that evening, with trepidation the Dom Perignon was opened and there was a pop.  A good harbinger I thought.  I poured some into a flute; the color was a darker flax shade, with a good showing of tiny bubbles in a continuous motion, another good sign.  Then I brought the flute up and then the problems began.  The nose was foxy, not foul, but not a good nose for Champagne.  Then I tasted the wine and it was over the hill, there was no redeeming taste to the glass.  I then asked my Brother-in-law to try it as well, as I had relayed the story to him earlier over appetizers.  He concurred with my decision on the wine, and it was unceremoniously poured down the drain.  Here was a lost bottle of a wine that should have been enjoyed years ago, but was lost in the shuffle of my inventory.  I shall have to keep a more focused eye on my wines.